Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

I downloaded this movie because of its very interesting title. This one has been sitting in my hard disk for quite some time until this evening, I thought that I could deal with some serious movie.

A Brief Interview With Hideous Men, has no specific storyline. It is about Sara (Julianne Nicholson) doing a research on feminist movement by looking at men. And the whole movie is just men talking about their fantasy, their relationship, what they think women want, and what they feel about things. There were a few observations from Sara's own eyes, like her professor, the men in the coffee shop, her own failed relationship.

The guy who shouted "Victory for the forces of Democratic Freedom" when he climaxed in sex.
*I would probably castrate the guy if this happens to me* just joking~

Two educated men in suits that curse like truck drivers
and talked about how they f***ed girls.

This is one intense soul searching movie. It poses a lot of questions. There are no definite answers or a solid confession, or a guideline on how women should want, or act, or perform. These are just questions and thoughts posed by men, and the movie totally leaves the thinking to the audience. In my case, I started thinking what I want or how my actions affect men. The audiences get to form their own opinions, and make their own conclusion.

Two guys discussing about what they think women think or want.

I felt like I've watched a documentary narrated by different people instead of a movie. The interviews and scenes were so nicely edited that whatever one person said can be connected to the next. And there were certain scenes, where one expects the answers, and suddenly, the interview was cut and we were brought to another subject. Only in scenes later were certain questions answered by some other character or by a totally unrelated scene. I feel that it is a very good way to intrigue audiences and keep them on the issues.

My most memorable scene was the one where an old black guy talked about his father's job as a waiter in a glamorous men's toilet. He hated his father for his job, for serving other with fortitude, for cleaning after other white men with no dignity. In the same scene, the father narrated his own life, saying that he was doing it for his children's future. It felt almost ironic to me.

How the father serves while the son (in blue shirt) narrates...
It is a flashback so brilliantly portrayed!

The most memorable scene...
Father and son, standing opposite each other...
Father (in white uniform) saying how much he loved his children that he can take the humiliation of his job;
Son(in blue cardigan, and flashback) saying how he hated his father for having no dignity.
Sad but wonderfully brilliant juxtapositioning!

Another sequence that caught my attention was the one where three different men told their girlfriends in three different situation, perhaps, even at a different time, that they cheated, with the same way of saying it. The script was so nicely written and believable that for a moment, I really start to stereotype guys as shit holes who cheat and tell their girlfriends the same things.

If guys know that it is almost unacceptable for a lady to accept the fact that he is cheating, why cheat in the first place?
And why try to soften the fact that he cheated on her with sweet words in order to save the relationship when he knows that she is going to freak?
Why cheat in the first place if you want to save the relationship?

The whole point of the movie, however, is to show that all guys are the same from a girl's perspective. Good educated guys in suits are assholes and they cheat, while the normal average guys spend most of their time getting intimidated by smarter girls and feel insecure about themselves. I don't know how true these feelings are, or if they represents the insecurities most men felt. But I think that this movie is a great one as it provided a glimpse into how modern feminism and strong iron ladies have affected these men.

Ratings : 8.5/10.

Girls, this is a movie that will raise quite a number of issues for us to ponder on. Guys, please watch this with an open mind. There might be some stereotype or there are some issues that hit you right in your ego, but take a moment to acknowledge your own fear and to acknowledge that there are SOME men on there feeling this way.